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Electric Daisy Carnival: Techno Flower Power

One Saturday night in Las Vegas last year, a blonde girl with ponytails helps her stumbling girlfriend to the front of a taxi queue at least 50 people deep.

The girl, wearing a neon green tutu and purple fishnets, juggles a pair of neon pink glow sticks in one hand while supporting her friend with her other arm. The friend is sort of melting beyond her grasp, head lolling under a shock of purple Day-Glo hair. She’s a mess, even though her painstaking outfit belies some serious prior sobriety — there is coordinating purple latex, a bejeweled bra anchoring her breasts into a careful arrangement of bondage gear, silver latex hot pants and more glowing accessories. Oh, and the two wear festive matching purple glow-fur legwarmers. So their graceless procession to the front of the taxi queue is a display of neon and fur, rhinestones glinting in the neon lights of the Strip.

![Day-Glo Dancer](/content/images/2016/02/dsc_0125-28Jun2010021006796607_t940-e1464825369279-150x150.jpg)Day-Glo dancers rave on at the Electric Daisy CarnivalThe blonde girl yells, “We need a cab. We need a cab now. My friend is sick! Too much dancing! Too much loooooooove.” She’s shouting to no one in particular, although everyone waiting for the past half hour is entranced and grateful for the diversion.

A gray-haired couple at the front of the line step aside as they plow into the open door of their taxi. “Sorry, gotsta go,” the able-bodied girl offers wantonly, avoiding eye contact. The door slams. Presumably the taxi driver is told of their destination. The driver slowly begins the drive, but not before the Day-Glo purple hair girl rolls down the window and pukes, splattering the gray-haired couple.

Las Vegas is overrun with costumed partiers in Pikachu outfits — it’s a new kind of Sin City

All this precedes an onslaught of ravers departing the mega-club event at closing time.

The streets of Las Vegas are overrun with costumed partiers in Pikachu outfits—and it’s a new kind of Sin City. Take note, Oklahomans on vacation pumping quarters into slot machines. Behold, stripper-loving frat boys. Take heed, penis-straw-and-pink-satin-sash bachelorette parties: A new sort of debauchery has arrived in Las Vegas, and it’s known as Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). There will be glow sticks, stumbling 21-year-olds, glitter, cynical neon fanny packs and Hula Hoops. Vegas’ main draw—the gambling money grab—is about to be supplanted by a different motivating force. That force is electronic music.

The Electric Daisy Carnival, known for voracious displays of rave-dom, drew over 350,000 attendees last year. Parent company Insomniac Events—and hopefully Las Vegas transit—are preparing for a fifth year of EDC events. The main Vegas event will be held from June 17-19 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and other mega-clubs, with “200 DJs, 500 theatrical performers, carnival rides, large-scale art installations, state-of-the-art lighting and sound production across seven stages, and fireworks at the close of each evening,” according toElectronic Vegas.

[![Paul Van Dyk](/content/images/2016/02/pvd-150x150.jpg)](/content/images/2016/02/pvd.jpg)Paul Van Dyk headlines the EDC MexicoCosmopolitan Hotel of Las Vegas for President’s Day holiday weekend (and Valentine’s). The wholly ambitious lineup of 2016 EDC events also includes [EDC Mexico](http://mexico.electricdaisycarnival.com/en/) on February 27 and 28 with [Nicole Moudaber](http://rhapsody.com/artist/nicole-moudaber), Hector, [Paul Van Dyk](http://rhapsody.com/artist/paul-van-dyk), Balcazar & Sordo, [Hot Since 82](http://rhapsody.com/artist/hot-since-82) and [Yousef](http://rhapsody.com/artist/yousef). EDC will then alight [New York](http://newyork.electricdaisycarnival.com/) at Citi Field May 14 and 15 and July 9 in [Milton Keynes](http://uk.electricdaisycarnival.com/), 45 miles north-west of London, with a curated lineup that far surpasses the other EDC events. Performers include [Martin Solveig](http://rhapsody.com/artist/martin-solveig), [Eric Prydz](http://rhapsody.com/artist/eric-prydz), [Avicii](http://rhapsody.com/artist/avicii), [Martin Garrix](http://rhapsody.com/artist/martin-garrix), [Oliver Heldens](http://rhapsody.com/artist/oliver-heldens), [Robin Schulz](http://rhapsody.com/artist/robin-schulz) and Roni Size—but, sadly, Axwell Λ Ingrosso and other mindless, filler performers will also be present. The focus seems to be on dancing and the party, as opposed to taste. Well, hey—that’s a great nucleus.

Las Vegas is nothing like the muddy farmlands of Woodstock in 1969, but it seems that a new kind of musical revolution is taking place. This time it’s digital. Perhaps the age of Day-Glo PLUR techno flower power is dawning, and hopefully there will be enough Ubers and glow sticks to maintain peace.

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